Tshisekedi declared winner

The key Southern African Development Community (SADC) hailed a Democratic Republic of Congo court’s declaration on Sunday that Felix Tshisekedi had won the presidential election, despite the African Union voicing doubts over the results.

“We congratulate the president-elect of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mr Felix Tshisekedi.

“The SADC reiterates the need to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC,” the 16-nation SADC’s chair, Hage Geingob, of Namibia said.

This comes as the DRC’s top court declared Tshisekedi president on Sunday after disputed elections, outraging opponents who alleged a stitch-up as an AU delegation prepared to head to the volatile country.

Announcing the final results of the much-delayed poll, the Constitutional Court threw out a legal challenge by runner-up Martin Fayulu.

It declared Tshisekedi, 55, the winner, paving the way for him to take over from longterm leader Joseph Kabila.

The AU chair, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, was due in Kinshasa on Monday after it and other international bodies voiced concern over the results.

Fayulu has described the outcome as an “electoral coup”.

He has alleged Tshisekedi promised to protect Kabila’s interests in return for helping ensure his victory.

Fayulu called on world powers to reject the results, declaring himself “the only legitimate president”.

“I ask the entire international community not to recognise a power that has neither legitimacy nor legal standing to represent the Congolese people,” he said of Tshisekedi.

Tshisekedi’s victory was provisionally announced earlier this month by the Independent National Election Commission (CENI) but was challenged both at home and abroad.

On Sunday, the Constitutional Court, which is made up of Kabila’s allies, said Fayulu’s claims were “unfounded”.

It said he had failed to prove any inaccuracies in the figures, describing his call for a recount as “absurd”.

“Only the CENI has produced authentic and sincere results,” judge Noel Kilomba said.

The court went on to declare Tshisekedi as “president of the Democratic Republic of Congo by simple majority”.

The Financial Times and other foreign media have reported seeing documents that confirm Fayulu as the winner.

The influential Roman Catholic Church, which says it deployed 40,000 observers to monitor the poll, has also dismissed the official outcome.

The electoral commission had previously scheduled the swearing-in of the next president for Tuesday.

Awaiting Sunday’s court announcement, hundreds of supporters of Tshisekedi gathered at the court holding placards saying “No to interference” as riot police stood nearby.

Tshisekedi, leader of the DRC’s oldest and biggest opposition party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress, has never held high office.

The dispute has raised fears that the political crisis that began when Kabila refused to step down at the end of his constitutional term in office two years ago could turn into a bloodbath.

“If the court declares Tshisekedi victor, the risk of isolation would be enormous and untenable for a country positioned right in the middle of the continent,” Adeline van Houtte, of the Economist Intelligence Unit, wrote on Twitter.

The vast country lived through two regional wars in 1996-97 and 1998-2003.

The previous two elections, in 2006 and 2011, were marred by bloody clashes.

At a summit on Thursday, AU leaders said there were “serious doubts” about the election figures and called for the final results to be delayed.

DRC government spokesperson Lambert Mende had snubbed the demand, saying: “I don’t think it is the business of the government or even of the African Union to tell the court what it should do.”

Ahead of Kagame’s visit, the European Union said it joined the AU in inviting “all the Congolese players to work constructively with this delegation to find a post-electoral solution which respects the Congolese people’s vote”.

Before Sunday’s announcement by the court, the AU had announced its plan to send its commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat and Kagame to DRC on Monday.

Observers warned that Kagame’s options were limited.

He is viewed with suspicion in DRC, where Rwanda is accused of backing armed groups in various uprisings and of seizing land and minerals.